Apple provides Japanese customers with free repairs following floods and landslides

Apple is pledging assistance to its Japanese customers affected by heavy rainfall in July, by announcing it will be providing repairs of iPhones, iPads, Macs, and other hardware directly damaged by the natural disaster at no charge.

Customers with damaged products can contact Apple on 0120-27753-5 before the end of September to arrange for a repair, an announcement on the regional Apple website found by Mac Otakara reveals. For the repair, products will be collected from the customers and serviced at no charge, in cases where a repair can be made.

The special repair service will apply to repairable Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch, and Apple displays that were directly affected by the weather event. The service will not repair any accessories or peripherals that were damaged, including Beats headphones.

Customers may also be asked for proof of ownership at the time of repair. Other customers that have problems not caused by the weather will be handled under normal Apple repair guidelines.

Apple warns that, aside from potential delays in the repair process itself, there may also be other issues that can slow down the process. Courier companies in some areas are either suspending or offering a partial service in some areas due to flooding and landslides, which are likely to affect pick-up and delivery times.

Heavy rains earlier this month has caused flooding and landslides in southwestern areas of Japan, in what has been declared one of the country's biggest natural disasters since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. At least 200 people are believed to have been killed by the disaster, prompting 75,000 responders to arrive in affected areas for search and rescue operations.